Critical Essay by Marc Geisler

In the following essay, Geisler examines the ways in which Coriolanus seems to presage the English Civil War of 1642, arguing that the play accurately dramatizes the way that political petitioning may be used against a monarchy.

I

In a striking scene of calculated manipulation, the tribune Sicinius prepares to assemble the voices of the people in order to foment a popular protest against Coriolanus' election as a consul: